LONDON — A new study conducted by the University of Oxford shows that a vaccine made by the university and drugmaker AstraZeneca significantly reduces transmission of COVID-19 and helps prevent hospitalizations and death.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, is the first to prove that the vaccine reduces the transmissibility of the virus.

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the study supports the U.K.'s strategy of taking more time between injections.

Spacing out second vaccine doses to 12 weeks is allowing Britain to protect more people more quickly.

The U.K. has already given at least one vaccine shot to 10 million people, far quicker than the European Union's vaccine rollout.